Dubai Marina

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I was in Dubai recently on business and was taken for lunch at one of the restaurants in the new Dubai Marina complex. Dubai has some staggering construction projects ongoing but Dubai Marina is certainly one of the most impressive. It was carved out of a 2 mile stretch of coastline and claims to be the largest man made marina in the world

Apparently the plan is to construct 200 high rise buildings offering 'mixed use canal side living in the Venetian tradition' although I'm buggered if I can see the connection

Dubai Marina will actually have a number of different marinas in it including what they say will be the largest superyacht harbour in the world. I did'nt see many Brit built boats there but the Italians have already set up dealerships

To be honest, gob smacking though the development is, along with many other developments in Dubai and on the Gulf Coast, the question I kept asking myself is who is going to buy all these apartments and why. The summer temperatures can approach 50degC and in the winter, temperatures can be less than 20degC so the climate can hardly be called temperate
As for boating, I also wondered what you'd do with your boat, if you moored there. The coastline seems pretty featureless so I guess you'd just day trip to the next mega marina down the coast. For longer cruises, the fleshpots of Iran are a day's sail across the Gulf and Iraq could be reached in a week's motoring /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mjf]

Agree.

Big building site - terrible traffic and too hot in Summer - can also get windy too if I recall.

The coast up to Homuz is very rocky but may offer some nice bays to anchor. Avoiding the sea snakes / sharks then becomes the issue i guess.

 

[wakeup]

I know someone who had a boat out there for 18 months. It got so hot he said the fibreglass started to crisp!!! He brought the boat back to the UK.

 

[sarabande]

I guess the best days for sailing in the Gulf out of Dubai have now passed.

In the 70s and 80s, the water was clear, the beaches still covered in shells, and you drove from Dubai to Abu Dhabi along the beach in preference to the inner coast road.

For marine "expeditions" there are a couple of islands within a day's sail offshore, but thre are now some disputes with Iran/Iraq over ownership - reinforced by large calibre weaponry.

Ras Al Khaima had a number of small fishing ports, nestling into the mountains, but they are all "developed", along with the Fijeirah side and Oman.

We once had a joint Dubai Sailing Club / Jebel Ali Sailing club overnight picnic on the islands, supported by the (then) largest mobo in Dubai, about 40ft !. The barbecue food was taken out on the stern of the mobo: a couple of goats, who alas, had one-way tickets.

Sleeping overnight on the island shore, no mosquitos, no light pollution at all. Sheer magic. I don't believe that all the buildings, infrastructure, playgrounds in the Emirates could recapture what we had before tourism arrived.

If the Emirates ever lose mains power in a big way in summer, there will be many people who could not survive the heat or the height of the new conurbations.

 

[Sinbad2222]

Great pics - Reminds me of Ocean Village - ghastly!

 

[Nick_H]

I don't want to be a prophet of doom, but how long before these grand capitalist developments become the target of a terrorist plot? Statistically you're unlikely to be caught up in it, but it wouldn't do much for your investment there??

 

[gjgm]

with those buildings, anything other than a massive boat is going to look feeble...

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Exactly my sentiments. Dubai is in the grip of a property boom so somebody must have faith in the property market but, personally, I would'nt invest a penny there. Iran is already a fundamentalist state, Iraq will be one as soon as the Americans move out and Saudi will not be far behind so the Emirates and other small Gulf states will eventually be surrounded on all sides. The other issue is that there are so many foreign nationals making up the Dubai workforce that I can't see how the local security forces can keep an eye on every possible terrorist sympathiser coming into the country
I did mention this issue to some locals and the response was that, because everybody in Dubai was relatively well off, Islamic fundamentalism would be less of a problem. Also they see themselves as an Arab Hong Kong and, in the same way as China has left HK to get on with it, they believe that Dubai will be allowed to continue to carry on as it is. I would'nt bet on it

 

[deborahann]

my boss bought the last property on the Palm that the developers had to sell, he says he's made £1m on it already. For years its been hard to get hotel accomodation there, particulary at the Jumeriah Beach, so all the development will help. Believe me tourism there is booming. Wouldn't want a boat there tho.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I don't doubt that there is a property boom there at the moment but it is largely based on short term speculation rather than long term need. The rate of building there is so rapid that there must come a time, probably sooner rather than later, when the market is saturated and prices will dive. In addition some other Gulf states will also start massive building programmes in the future which will further saturate the market
Then you have imponderables such as the possibility of a massive terrorist attack or rising fundamentalism. I agree that Dubai offers short term gains in the property market but as a long term investment, it's a hell of a risk IMHO

 

[mjkinch1]

Nice Pics Mike.....

 

[tcm]

terrorist estate agents

um, terrorist-wise, new york property is a lot hotter than london, it seems, far more gigantic developments going up, plenty of swish 2-bed flats for glub £2m or $4m, far more than london... I suppose knocking down a couple of really big skyscrapers at a time when they were slightly empty has possibly helped increase demand although that's a bit grim/sick...

But nonetheless, terrorist attack hasn't really done very bad things for property markets in medium/long term- infact quite the reverse. If you want property prices to really take off, get someone to crash a jet nearby..

 

[Nick_H]

Re: terrorist estate agents

True, but if you want to be a high flier in the US business and finance world you don't have much choice but to live and work in New York, plus its on their home turf so you get whatever the equivalent of the Dunkirk spirit is in the US (the Alamo spirit??)

The same investor would however have lots of choice if looking to buy a nice holiday pad in the sun, and if Dubai had just been bombed i'm guessing it would slide a couple of (hundred) places down the list.

 

[deborahann]

well he is an extremely rich guy, so if that investment sours he has lots of others, Dubai is very, very attractive to the Indian Asian community living in the UK.

The company I work for are the nbr 2 from the UK to Dubai, the company I partly owned in the past has been the number 1 for years, and would you believe it, I've had a thousand offers but never been there. Don't fancy it really, other than feel bad I haven't.

Terrorism is serious concern, but its probably about the same risk as anywhere else. Don't think property prices would dive if London was bombed. & we (UK) haven't a clue who's here and dangerous.

 

[oldgit]

"fleshpots of Iran" /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bob_tyler]

[ QUOTE ]
. Believe me tourism there is booming.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had a 3 day stopover in Dubai in early December on the way to SA (Emirates).

Apart from a 4wd drive in the desert I would never bother again. Lousy for tourists, an absolute concrete jungle. Some amazing buildings, especially the "ski resort" which must consume half the oil in the Middle East to keep cool, but little else.

As for tourism, forget it.